Yoane Wissa scored one and set one up as Brentford took a share of the spoils from their trip to Nottingham Forest.

The DR Congo striker’s contribution looked set to hand Thomas Frank’s side all three points, until Zanka’s inadvertent 96th-minute own goal rescued a point for Forest.

Morgan Gibbs-White curled the home side in front midway through the first half, before Bryan Mbeumo levelled from the spot in injury time, after Dean Henderson brought down Wissa in the box.

Mathias Jensen then played Wissa through for what looked like the winner with 15 minutes to play, only for some late pinball in the Brentford box to end with the ball bouncing off the unfortunate Zanka and looping in, despite Ben Mee’s best efforts on the line.

The teams

Thomas Frank was forced into a pair of enforced changes with Ivan Toney serving a one-match suspension for five bookings while Kristoffer Ajer missed out due to a knee injury.

In came Keane Lewis-Potter, to play on the left of the front three, and Mads Roerslev.

Forest made three changes, matching the Bees up in a 4-3-3; Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and Emmanuel Dennis replacing Renan Lodi, Jesse Lingard, and Taiwo Awoniyi.

Brentford: Raya; Roerslev, Mee, Pinnock, Henry; Janelt (Onyeka 46), Jensen (Ghoddos 86), Dasilva (Canós 81); Mbeumo (Zanka 81), Lewis-Potter (Damsgaard 60), Wissa

Subs not used: Cox, Crama, Trevitt, Yarmoliuk

Nottingham Forest: Henderson; Aurier, McKenna, Cook (Surridge 90), Williams; Kouyaté (O’Brien 66), Yates, Freuler (Lingard 79); Johnson, Gibbs-White, Dennis (Awoniya 79)

Subs not used: Hennessy, Worrall, Mangala, Boly, Lodi

First half

Both sides had their chances during a lively opening period that saw Brentford enjoy plenty of possession, while Forest looked dangerous getting the ball forward quickly.

Johnson tested Raya from the edge of the box with the afternoon’s first effort, Raya dropping easily on to his shot.

Brentford’s first sight of goal came when the ball was won back in midfield. Mbeumo initially couldn’t get his shot away and then, when the ball was delivered back in by Jensen, Scott McKenna was well placed to clear it from inside the six-yard box with Mbeumo lurking.

Emmanuel Dennis headed tamely into Raya’s arms and Steve Cook also blocked a Wissa shot, following positive work by Mbeumo down the right, during an easy-on-the-eye opening ten minutes.

With Brennan Johnson pushing on, Brentford were getting into plenty of good situations down the left in the early stages. Serge Aurier was often up against both Lewis-Potter and Rico Henry when the Bees came forward but Forest were able to deal with the threat.

While the visitors were seeing the majority of possession, Forest’s intentions were to get the ball forward quickly when the chance arose.

Gibbs-White’s direct running was a particular threat. It was his run, after Vitaly Janelt’s slip in midfield, which set up Johnson for another chance, but Raya beat away his effort and Mee hooked the loose ball clear.

Neco Williams then fired a long-range effort into the arms of Raya before Forest took the lead.

Emmanuel Dennis knocked down a long ball into the path of Gibbs-White, with the Brentford backline backed off the Forest No.10, expecting to see an offside flag go up against Dennis.

However, no flag went up and Gibbs-White’s effort from inside the D took a nick off Mee on its way into the corner.

Gibbs-White tested Raya with another curling effort, but Brentford started to get back on to the front foot as the game went towards the interval. Forest weren’t able to keep the ball in advanced areas and that allowed Brentford to push up.

Lewis-Potter fired a cross-cum-shot wildly wide with bodies in the middle with the equaliser coming on the stroke of half-time.

Mbeumo intercepted a loose pass across the midfield and immediately played it forward to Wissa to run on to. As he looked to round Henderson, the goalkeeper’s arm made contact with his shin, forcing him off balance. He tried to stay on his feet to finish but couldn’t. The Brentford players appealed for a penalty, and, after a long VAR check, referee Andre Marriner agreed and awarded the spot kick. Mbeumo hopped up to the spot and sent Henderson the wrong way with a cool finish.

Second half

That goal changed the complexion of the half-time team talks and Brentford came out strongly after the break.

Frank Onyeka’s introduction also gave the Bees fresh legs in the middle and Thomas Frank’s side enjoyed their best spell of the encounter.

Mbeumo fizzed a ball across goal, which somehow evaded all those in black in the middle. The Cameroon international also dragged a first-time shot just wide from the edge of the D.

Gibbs-White was still Forest’s major threat. It was his free-kick that Steve Cook glanced wide. He also curled a shot just past Raya’s post from the edge of the area.

As the game got stretched, Jensen began to take more of a starring role, picking the ball up from deep and driving Brentford forward. And he was heavily involved in the move that put Brentford ahead for the first time with 15 minutes to play.

Seeing Wissa running off the shoulder of the last defender, the Danish midfielder whipped a perfectly weighted first-time ball through for him to chase. The forward got there first and lifted the bouncing ball over the stranded Henderson and into the back of the net.

Substitute Sergi Canós wasn’t too far away from giving Brentford a two-goal buffer with a shot that Henderson could only watch skip past his far post.

Saman Ghoddos’ blushes were then spared by the offside flag, as he dragged an effort wide from eight yards with only Henderson to beat.

Those near misses would come back to haunt Brentford as Forest threw everything forward in the six minutes of stoppage time.

Lewis O’Brien and Ryan Yates sent long-range efforts off target, either side of a huge chance for substitute Taiwo Awoniyi. The striker found himself all alone six yards out but got far too much power on his header and sent it flying over the bar.

That looked like it might have been the decisive moment but there was still one more twist to come as Forest launched one final ball into the box.

Canós threw himself in the way of Gibbs-White’s shot with the loose ball rebounding back to the Forest man on the penalty spot. His next effort was blocked on the line by Mee, the rebounding ball going on to hit Zanka and loop back towards goal.

Mee then launched himself towards the ball and hooked it clear from under the shadow of the crossbar. All eyes turned to referee Marriner who, after a momentary delay, blew his whistle and signalled that the ball had crossed the line by the barest of margins before Mee’s intervention.

There was barely time for the game to restart before the final whistle went, leaving Brentford with a sense of what might have been.

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